Scientific name: Haliaeetus leucocephalus

Common name: Bald eagle 

Six-foot black wingspan with white head and tail distinguish this majestic fish predator. Beaconsfield Canyon neighbors Beth Keer and Mark Riley could not believe their eyes when they spotted a pair of bald eagles soaring up the canyon--a first in 22 years of birdwatching from their home. This duo may be from the nest site in Lake Chabot. Bald eagles have made a comeback in the Bay Area, where there are 19 known nests, up from zero just a few years ago. Given their recovery throughout the country, the bald eagle was removed from the endangered species list in 2007. Since Beth and Mark couldn't grab a camera in time, this image by Mark Rauzon is from  Briones Reservoir. 

 

Last month was a race against the start of the rainy season to finish monitoring the pallid manzanita seedlings at the Chabot Space and Science Center. We are extremely grateful to Beth Wurzburg for availing herself to get this task completed in the knick of time on a series of very hot field days. Beth's training as a lab scientist prepared her well for monitoring pallid seedlings--methodical approach, thorough data recording, and an eye for detail. FOSC Intern Kelcey Tern had a chance to learn from the best! You can see Beth alongside Karen Paulsell in the Oakland Museum pallid manzanita video. Beth is currently serving as the president of the East Bay Chapter of California Native Plant Society. We'd also like to laud her for her leadership of this wonderful FOSC-partner organization. Thank you, Beth!   

If you have yellow leech tubes, black D40 (10" deep) tubes, or 4" square pots from plants you purchased at a FOSC plant sale, we would love to have them back! Please scrape any dirt out of them before returning them to the nursery, and we'll take it from there by sanitizing them for reuse. You can bring them to any nursery workday (2nd and 4th Saturdays, 1:30-4:30 p.m.), or contact Erin at [email protected]  or (510) 325-9006 to find another time that she'll be at the nursery to receive them. Thank you!

We are excited to welcome Freddy Gutierrez to the FOSC team. Freddy is the coordinator of the Unity Council's Latino Men and Boys Program, serving over 80 students and their families from four high schools. He will be helping FOSC expand our outreach in Fruitvale so that we can work with community members to further define and tackle projects in the Walkable Watershed Concept Plan. Learn more about the strengths that Freddy brings to our team on the staff web page. You can reach Freddy at [email protected].

 

We are still accepting applications for field trips for this school year. Visit the Field Trips section of our website to learn about where we go, what we do, and how your class can join the fun. Please contact us as soon as possible before our schedule fills.

Many funders make it possible for us to offer free field trips for students at underserved schools. A huge thank you to the Bill Graham Supporting Foundation of the Jewish Community Endowment Fund, California State Coastal Conservancy, Clorox Company Foundation, and Hillside Gardeners of Montclair for supporting our environmental education programs.